THE AFRICAN SAVANNA Information HOME to AFRICA’S LIONS and CHEETAHS

LESSON 3 background THE AFRICAN SAVANNA information HOME TO AFRICA’S LIONS AND CHEETAHS

Educator’s Background Information must eat other things for food. Anything that cannot produce its own food is called a consumer. Consumers that eat The African savanna conjures up images of one the most producers are called herbivores; consumers that eat other wild and beautiful places on Earth. Vast herds of antelope consumers are called carnivores; consumers that eat rotting feeding on endless grasslands, rivers filled with hippos or dead things are called detritivores. The relationship and crocodiles, and columns of wildebeest, silently between producers and consumers can be documented walking head to tail along their traditional migration through food chains and food webs. routes. This is the habitat of African cats. A food chain is the way energy is transferred from producers What’s a Habitat? to consumers. There are many food chains in a habitat All animals, including humans, need a place to live where because some animals consume more than one kind of they can find food, water, cover, and a place to raise young in animal, and some animals consume both plants and animals. order to survive. Scientists call this an animal’s habitat. While A complex system of overlapping food chains in an we humans can live in a variety of habitats, animals generally ecosystem is called a food web. For example, zebra, have more specific requirements based on their unique wildebeest, and Thomson’s gazelle consume grasses and physical and behavioral adaptations. leaves from many different kinds of plants and in turn are Food in a habitat can be as diverse as fungi and grasses to consumed by many different predators, such as cheetahs, termites, gazelles, and trees. Wat er sources can be found in a lions, and hyenas. When the hunters and scavengers have variety of sizes such as waterholes, rivers, and even small finished with a carcass, decomposers such as bacteria, fungi drops of water on a leaf. Plants can not only be a great source (an organism that is neither a plant nor an animal and gets of food but can also act as shade, cover, or a place for raising its energy by breaking down other organisms), millipedes, young or stalking prey. For instance, lion and cheetah require cockroaches, and carrion beetles continue to feed off of the bo nes. These organisms help return nutrients back into the open spaces for hunting, a plentiful supply of prey, grasses habitat. One example is that cheetahs eat gazelles, the dung and trees for shade and cover, and protected areas among from the gazelles adds nutrients to the soil, these nutrients rocks an d shrubs to raise their young. help new grasses grow, providing more food for the gazelles, What’s an Ecosystem? and thus food for the cheetah continuing the cycle. All living Ecosystems are communities of plants, animals, and things depend upon something else for their survival. These microorganisms within a particular area that interact with animals are connected in an intricate food web. each other and with the environment. Ecosystems include One of the best ways to see how species are connected all living and non-living components of an area. Ecosystems on the African savanna is through the use of food chains are complex, dynamic entities that use and transfer energy, and a food web. Examples of these food chains include: produce waste, and recycle nutrients. Tropical rainforests, • Carrion ¦ fungus ¦ termites ¦ lappet faced vulture deserts, and corals reefs are just a few examples of the many • Carrion ¦ lappet faced vulture ecosystems found around the world. All ecosystems, whether • Sun ¦ grasses ¦ warthog ¦ cheetah they are on land or in the ocean, are connected. So what • Sun ¦ grasses ¦ Thomson’s gazelle ¦ olive baboon ¦ lion occurs in one ecosystem affects the dynamics of another. • Sun ¦ grasses ¦ olive baboon ¦ spotted hyena How does Energy Flow through the Savanna? • Sun ¦ grasses ¦ warthog ¦ spotted hyena Most life on earth depends on energy from the sun. Plants • Sun ¦ grasses ¦ elephant are producers – they are able to use the sun’s energy to • Sun ¦ grasses ¦ zebra ¦ lion make their own food. • Carrion ¦ spotted hyena Un like plants, animals cannot produce their own food and • Elephant dung ¦ dung beetle ¦ kori bustard ¦ lion

• Carrion ¦ fungus ¦ termites ¦ agama lizard ¦ olive grass snake savanna kopjes. • Fungus ¦ termites ¦ helmeted guinea fowl ¦ cheetah I t’s no surprise that with this many sources of prey, predators • Sun ¦ acacia leaves ¦ giraffe ¦ lion are abundant on the savanna. Many are both hunters and scavengers, and will steal food from each other when they ¦ ¦ ¦ • Fruit vervet monkey olive baboon lion have the opportunity. ¦ ¦ ¦ • Sun grasses Thomson’s gazelle cheetah The savannas of Kenya and Tanzania are perhaps best known • Sun ¦ grasses ¦ grasshopper ¦ agama lizard ¦ kori bustard ¦ as home to one of the greatest wildlife spectacles in the world cheetah – the annual wildebeest migration. During the rainy season, These food chains can also be assembled into a food the savannas of the Serenge ti plains are feeding grounds pyramid to show how plants and animals are balanced for a staggering number of animals: 1.3 million wildebeest, on the savanna. Food pyramids show the energy transfer nearly 200,000 Burhell’s zebras, over a quarter of a million between different trophic levels in a habitat. Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelles, as well ostriches, eland, and hartebeest. Predators and scavengers like lions, hyenas, and Africa’s Savanna Ecosystem: Home to Millions jackals follow the herds. The African savanna is an amazing and complex grassland Wildlife at Work: Every Animal ecosystem. It is characterized by warm temperatures year- has a “Job” on the Savanna round (64 degrees Fahrenheit and above) and seasonal rains. In Kenya where AFRICAN CATS was filmed, there are two Just like your community, every living thing on the savanna rainy seasons that together produce from 20-50 inches of rain plays an important role in shaping its environment. Elephants knock down trees, clear grasses, and dig watering holes that each year. The long rains last from March to May and the other animals depend on as well. Light grazers like warthogs short rains from October to December. These seasonal rains, trim grasses to help new plants grow. Dung beetles and fungi along with periodic fires and grazing, prevent trees from recycle animal waste, returning essential nutrients back into dominating the grasses and the savanna from becoming a the soil. Scavengers like hyenas and vultures feed on forest. carcasses. This helps clean up the savanna and prevents Although these extremes in climate can be harsh, Africa’s disease. Termite mounds serve as lookouts, scratching posts, grasslands teem with life. The grasslands support the greatest and hiding spots for cheetah and other species. numbe r and variety of large grazing animals in the world, The African savanna is ruled by top predators like lions, thanks to a process known as the “grazing succession”. In this leopards, and cheetahs, who help maintain gazelle and process, heavy grazers like elephants, buffalos, and hippos antelope populations. In fact, the health of many prey eat and trample the large coarse grasses, causing changes populations depends on these and other predators. By that make the plants tastier for lighter grazers like zebras and feeding on the sick and the weak animals, lions and cheetahs wildebeest. These in turn prepare the grasses for the lightest inevitably ensure that the strongest will pass on their genes grazers like gazelles and warthogs. Tall grasses also provide to future generations. It also keeps herd numbers from cover for snakes, lizards, and large birds like Kori bustard and exceeding the amount of grass and forage available to them guinea fowl. Scattered among and along the grassland edges, each year. In turn, the amount of available prey controls lion trees like the umbrella-shaped acacia and stout baobab and cheetah populations. In the end, the savanna ecosystem provide browse for large antelopes, elephants, and giraffes, is maintained in a delicate balance where every living thing and food and protection for monkeys and baboons. depends upon another for survival. Rising from the vast grasslands, outcroppings of rocks known Habita t components such as water, food, cover, and a as kopjes (pronounced “ko-pees”) stand out like rocky islands place to raise young fluctuate naturally over time. As these in a sea of grass. Kopjes consist of very old granite rock which components fluctuate, they directly impact animal has weathered and eroded, causing its surfaces to become populations within the habitat. An overabundance of broken and furrowed. These outcroppings provide shade and resources can lead to flourishing animal populations. protection from fire, rain, sun, and predators. Many plants However, if resources decline, the health, stability, and and animals, such as the brightly-colored agama lizard, rock density of the population is sure to follow. Limited resources hyrax, tiny klipspringer antelope, and aloe plants, use the can result in a “race for survival” with species competing

DESCRIPTION MATERIALS Students will be introduced to the important components of a habitat – food, water, cover, • Worksheet 14: What does my and a place to raise young. They will first make a drawing of their own habitat before using habitat look like? – worksheet picture clue cards to discuss the African savanna habitat. In completing these activities, • Worksheet 16: What makes up the savanna habitat? – people & students will learn that all animals, including people, need four basic things to survive: food, food cards water, cover, and a plac e to raise their young. These four elements make up a habitat. • Worksheet 17: What makes up the savanna habitat? – water & OBJECTIVES cover cards Through participation in this activity students will: • Magnets or tape • Understand the meaning of the term habitat. • Chalkboard or white erase board • Determine what makes up the habitat requirements that all animals need to survive (food, water, cover, and a place to raise their young). SET UP • Make copies of worksheet 14 • Compare a person’s habitat to the savanna habitat. and distribute to students along with crayons or colored pencils. POSITIVE ACTIONS TO HELP AFRICAN CATS • Make one copy each of Learn more about the savanna habitat and the wildlife that lives there by reading books and worksheets 16 and 17. Cu t out visiting websites listed in this guide. picture cards so there is one complete set of 12 picture cards.

Procedures Split the class into small groups and pass out the food, water, and cover cards giving each group one. Tell 1. Open the discussion by asking students what they need students you need their help to match each habitat to survive (i.e. food, water, cover). Discuss the difference requirement to its appropriate category. between a “need” such as water and a “want” such as soda. Tell students that sometimes a habitat is even bigger 5. First hold up the examples of people. Ask students to than the physical building they identify as a home – for use their knowledge of a human habitat to match each example, people may need to go to their garden or a card to its category. grocery store to get food. Compile a list of the things a. Hold up the food example and ask students “What is s tudents need before telling them that these components this picture of? That’s correct. This is a picture of food. make up their habitat. We will put this in the food category.” 2. Have students draw a picture of their home on worksheet b. Next, hold up the water example. Ask students “What is 14: What does my habitat look like? Make sure they this picture of? Correct, this is water. Do we need water include examples of food, water, and cover. Explain that to survive? Absolutely. This goes into the water their home is where they are growing up, so it is similar category.” to a den site or nest that an animal might build to raise c. Finally, hold up the home example. “What is this their young. picture of? Yes, this is a picture of a home. People need 3. Review students’ pictures and ha ng them around the homes for cover. This goes into the cover category.” classroom if desired. The class will now be participating 6. After reviewing what people need to survive have students in an activity to discover what lions and cheetahs need bring their cards up, one at a time, to continue matching on the savanna. the remainder of the cards. Discuss what animals need to 4. Write the following categories on the chalkboard: food, survive in the savanna habitat. Further the discussion by water, cover. Explain to students that they have a stack of asking students to make connections between the cards in picture cards with examples of each of these categories. each category and the animals that might depend on

them. In addition to talking about how lions and cheetahs Extensions may use these items, also encourage students to think • Refer to the Disneynature AFRICAN CATS Activity Guide about smaller organisms as well – insects, worms, snakes, for more fun and informative lesson plans on habitats. lizards, and even fungi and bacteria are all very important in a habitat. Included in the Activity Guide are instructions on how to create your own classroom habitat, an interactive Wrap-up matching game to explore the roles of animals on the savanna, and a lesson plan for outdoor exploration into Once students have correctly placed all of the Food, Water, habitats near your school. Cover cards, review their answers as a class. Use the following discussion points to guide your wrap-up: • Explore a habitat in your area – even if it is just a garden • Discuss why each of these habitat requirements is or tree near your school. Look for sources of food, water, important to an animal’s survival. Predict how changing cover, and places for animals to raise their young. Make or removing one of these (food, water, or cover) could a list of all the different types of habitat components affect living things in a habitat. Students’ answers will vary you find there and what animals might make use of but they s hould conclude that removing one of these these elements. requirements can cause major changes to the habitat • Create a wildlife habitat in your schoolyard. Identify and the animals that depend on them. the native wildlife that lives in your area and their • Create a chart to compare and contrast our needs to the habitat needs. needs of animals on the savanna. Discuss your findings. Visit http://www.nwf .org/Get-Outside/Outdoor- Students should draw conclusions between the fact that we Activities/Garden-for-Wildlife/Schoolyard-Habitats.aspx both need food, water, cover, and a place to raise young. to learn more about creating a wildlife habitat at your school. However, they should notice that our needs and the needs of African cats are often met in different ways. Evaluation All animals, including people, need four basic things to • To evaluate student comprehension, have students correctly survive: food, water, cover, and a place to raise their young. answer the corresponding question on the Big Ideas for Big These four elements make up a habitat. Cats cards.

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© 2010 Disney Enterprises, Inc. 26 LESSON The African Savanna activity one 3 worksheet 14 WHAT DOES MY HABITAT LOOK LIKE? Use the space below to draw a picture of your habitat. Be sure to include food, water, and cover!

Explore a habitat near your school! Look for examples of food, water, cover, and a place for animals to raise young.

© 2010 Disney Enterprises, Inc. 29 LESSON The African Savanna activity two 3 WHAT DO LIONS AND CHEETAHS NEED TO SURVIVE? Grade: 4–6 | Length of Activity: 1 hour | Subjects: Science, Graphing | Staff: One teacher or volunteer

DESCRIPTION MATERIALS Students will first learn the four basic requirements that an animal needs • Outdoor space or open field to survive by drawing an ideal lion or cheetah habitat. Then, they will • Masking tape, rope, or sidewalk chalk try to “survive” changes in a fast running game where students choose • Colored pencils, crayons, or markers to become either an African cat or a habitat component. In this game, • Worksheet 19: What do lions and cheetahs need to survive? – activity sheet students examine the habitat requirements of lions and cheetahs, • Worksheet 20: Data Sheet – data recording sheet which include food (prey), water, cover, and a place to raise their young. • Worksheet 21: How did the African cat population Students discover that as these four requirements change, the size of change as their habitat changed? – activity sheet the lion and cheetah population will also change. SET UP OBJECTIVES • Make copies of worksheets 19 and 21 for Through participation in this activity students will: each student. M ake one copy of worksheet 20 • Understand the habitat requirements that lions and cheetahs need to to record data. survive (food, water, cover, and a place to raise their young). • Divide an open field or schoolyard in half. Use masking tape, rope, or sidewalk chalk to create • Graph the fluctuations in a population of lions and cheetahs. two parallel lines approximately 50 feet apart. • Identify two factors that can change a population. SAFE PRACTICES POSITIVE ACTIONS TO HELP AFRICAN CATS Make sure the field or schoolyard is safely prepared Learn more about the savanna habitat and the wildlife that lives there for student activity. Be sure to check for any trip hazards or sharp objects that could be dangerous by reading books and visiting websites. for students.

Procedures to explain why they chose to include the elements shown in their picture. Be sure each student has drawn What is a Habitat? at least one example of food, water, cover, and a place 1. Open the discussion by asking students what types of to raise young. requirements they need to survive (i.e. food, water, cover). Ask them to explain the difference between a Outdoor Game: What do Lions and Cheetahs “need” such as water and a “want” such as soda. Need to Survive? 2. Then ask students to brainstorm a list of things they think 1. Take the class outside and be sure the area is safe for lions and cheetahs need to survive. Record this list on a activities. Divide students into two smaller, equal sized chalkboard, white board, flip chart, or SMART™ board. groups. One group will be African cats (designate half of Discuss the list and have students evaluate what is on this group lions and the other half cheetahs); the other the list and if it should remain on the board. will be habitat components (food, water, and cover.) 3. Distribute worksheet 19: What do lions and cheetahs Before beginning, ask students to predict how they think need to survive? and colored pencils, crayons, or markers the lion and cheetah populations will change as their to each student. food, water, and cover change. 4. Review the activity instructions on the worksheet. Have 2. Have the groups stand at opposite ends of the field, students draw their own lion or cheetah habitat based behind their designated lines. on the list of habitat elements they generated. 3. To recognize habitat components, the students should 5. Once stude nts have completed the worksheet, ask them use hand motions to describe which element they are or

which element they need. For food, students should place Conclusion both hands over their stomach. For water, students should 10. After completing the activity, discuss the class’ findings make a wave motion with their hands. For cover, students by posting their data at the front of the class. Grades 5-6 should create a “roof” over their head by touching their may choose to graph their findings using worksheet 21: hands together in a triangle shape. Demonstrate each of How did the African cat population change as their these to the class. habitat changed? Students could also use a database 4. Have both groups turn around so they are facing away program such as Microsoft Excel to create a table and from each other. The habitat group should decide which graph on the computer. element they are going to be; the African cat group should decide what element they need. Have each person make Wrap-up the hand motion to describe their habitat element. Use Use the following discussion points or questions to the data sheet (worksheet 20) to record the number of encourage further discussion: lions, number of cheetahs, and the number and type of • Compare and contrast the habitat requirements of people each habitat element chosen before beginning the game. to the habitat requirements of African cats. What have you 5. Have both lines turn around and start the game on the learned about the needs of lions and cheetahs based on count of three. Students should try to find their match as the activities you completed in this lesson? quickly as possible in order to “survive”. Pairs should only • Summarize what happened to the African cat population include one person from the African cat group and one over time. Compare the trends observed in the g ame to person from the habitat components group. The habitat your initial predictions. Overall trends may differ, but person can only satisfy one African cat, so if two or more students should conclude that habitat components cats try to pair with the same habitat person, only the first naturally fluctuate and directly influence the size of lion one to reach the habitat person survives. The rest must and cheetah populations. find another match. • How did you feel as a lion or cheetah as your habitat 6. Once someone from the African cat group finds its habitat requirements (food, water, and cover) fluctuated? Students match, they should pair up and walk back behind the should likely feel more pressure to find a match when African cat line. Since this African cat has found its survival there are fewer resources available. When there is plenty need, it will be able to live and reproduce. The person of food, water, and cover available, the rush to find a who was the habitat match will now become an African match should not have felt as pressured. cat (they should become the same African cat – either a lion or cheetah – as their partner). • Analyze the relationships between the amount of habitat components and the lion and cheetah populations. How 7. Any lion or cheetah that is not able to find their needed are these two variables related? Students should see that as habitat requirement will “not survive” and will become a habitat components increased, the number of African cats habitat component, returning nutrients back into the increased. However, the number of lions and cheetahs environment. This person should move to the other side may not always be equal. of the field, behind the habitat line. • In your opinion, is this game is an accurate representation 8. Once all students have returned to their appropriate ends of the relationship between habitat components and of the field, record the number of habitat components African cat populations on the savanna? Justify your answer and surviving lions and cheetahs on the data sheet. using your existing knowledge of connections between 9. Repeat steps 5-9 several times (about 10-15 rounds of the organisms and their environment. Students should game will provide enough data on how the African cat conclude that lions and cheetahs often compete for the population changes as habitat fluctuates). Students may same resources, which can cause conflict on the savanna. change their habitat component at the beginning of each In this game , students examine the habitat requirements of round, but not once the game is in play. Students should lions and cheetahs, which include food (prey), water, cover, not change the type of African cat they are during the and a place to raise their young. Students discover that as game (except for when turning from a habitat component these four requirements change, the size of the lion and into an African cat). cheetah population will also change.

Extensions • Create a wildlife habitat in your schoolyard. Identify the native wildlife that lives in your area and their • Refer to the Disneynature AFRICAN CATS Activity Guide for habitat needs. more fun and informative lesson plans on habitats. Included in the Activity Guide are instructions on how Visit http://www.nwf.org/Get-Outside/Outdoor- Activities/Garden-for-Wildlife/Schoolyard-Habitats.aspx to learn to create your own classroom habitat, an interactive more about creating a wildlife habitat at your school. matching game to explore the roles of animals on the savanna, and a lesson plan for outdoor exploration into Evaluation habitats near your school. As an engaging way to evaluate student comprehension, have • Visit a zoo that has a lion or cheetah e xhibit. Identify students correctly answer the corresponding lesson questions habitat components within the exhibit. on the Big Ideas for Big Cats card and then place it in the proper location on the bulletin board.

Create a schoolyard habitat with your class by planting a garden or tree, hanging a bird house, or putting out a bird bath.

Select the items below that a lion or cheetah would need to survive — remember to include food, water, cover, and a place to raise young. Create a savanna habitat by drawing them in the space provided. Then, draw your lion or cheetah living in its savanna home.

iceberg den tall grass pizza

house

antelope zebra watering hole

trees short grass seaweed

roller blades river

At the beginning of each round of play, record the number of surviving lions, cheetahs, and habitat elements in the table below.

Number of Number of Number of Habitat Elements Lions Cheetahs ROUND 1

ROUND 2

ROUND 3

ROUND 4

ROUND 5

ROUND 6

ROUND 7

ROUND 8

ROUND 9

ROUND 10

ROUND 11

ROUND 12

ROUND 13

ROUND 14

ROUND 15

© 2010 Disney Enterprises, Inc. 34 LESSON The African Savanna activity two 3 worksheet 21 HOW DO AFRICAN CAT POPULATIONS CHANGE? Use the data your teacher recorded from the game to graph changes in the African cat population over time. Plot changes in the lion population using one color, changes in the cheetah population using another color, and changes to the habitat elements using a third color. Color the boxes in the key accordingly.

CHANGES IN THE AFRICAN CAT POPULATION OVER TIME 24

10 NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS 8

12345678910 11 12 13 14 15 TIME (Round Number of Game)

HABITAT CHEETAHS KEY LIONS ELEMENT

Visit a local zoo that has lions or cheetahs to witness these big cats in person and learn more about their wild counterparts!